


Quelling the Quiet

by butyoumight



Series: Shuffling Your Deck of Trick Cards [14]
Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 12:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoumight/pseuds/butyoumight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>This was a terrible change, but Marvelous is confident that it's transient. That given enough time and gentle coaching, he'll get his Joe back.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Quelling the Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Episode 15. Alternate Universe as of Episode 16.

It was going to be a long trip back to Earth, but Marvelous found he didn't mind in the slightest. They needed this time to readjust, become re-acclimated to the way things were meant to be. Especially Joe.

He was different, he had changed, and not in the positive ways each member of the crew had grown to fill a part of the void Joe had left. This was a terrible change, but Marvelous is confident that it's transient. That given enough time and gentle coaching, he'll get his Joe back.

Marvelous lets Joe have that first night to recover. He spent most of it on the floor in Marvelous' quarters beneath the porthole, his knees to his chest, shivering despite the heavy blanket wrapped completely around him. He wasn't crying anymore, so Marvelous didn't bother him until it was very late, and even then he simply put his arms around Joe's shoulders and helped him stand, moved him to the bed. Joe didn't resist, and as soon as he was flat on his back beneath every blanket Marvelous owned he was asleep. Marvelous hoped this would be his own last sleepless night as he lie awake, curled up beside Joe with his fingers around Joe's wrist, watching him breathe.

The next day Joe relented to move back into his own room, and he closed himself in but didn't lock the door. Marvelous checked on him from time to time, changing the bandage on his leg and the one on his wrist. The cut there was nasty and deep, and Marvelous dearly desired to know what had caused it but he didn't ask, and Joe didn't tell him.

After that, Marvelous decided that he couldn't let Joe alone any longer. It wasn't healthy, though as far as he knew all Joe was doing was sitting quietly, shuffling and re-shuffling his deck of cards and occasionally sleeping. Joe needed to remember what it was like, being a part of the crew, and so the next morning Marvelous had dragged Joe reluctantly out of his room to have breakfast with the crew. He insisted Joe join them for all three of their daily meals every day after that. Joe was thin, far too thin. Don had noticed it too, and he always filled Joe's plate completely, only Marvelous with his ravenous appetite got larger servings.

Joe didn't speak to any of them but Marvelous for the first week, and even alone with Marvelous he's quiet, almost timid. Marvelous is fairly sure this isn't a habit from his time with Basco. Knowing Basco, Joe had probably been prodded and possibly even ordered to speak often. Marvelous imagines this silent Joe is Joe's desperate attempt to be more like he'd been before, a man of few words. He's trying too hard, of course, but Marvelous doesn't push.

One morning Marvelous woke up and found Joe in the main room of the Galleon, sitting on the love seat and playing whatever Solitaire game he played with it's circular layout. There was a cup of tea on the table as well, so Marvelous knew at least Ahim was up. He moved into the galley and found her there with Don. They were cooking, but there was an air of excitement about them both. Marvelous leaned against the wall to watch them. "What's going on?" He asked in an undertone, correctly guessing that their current attitude had something to do with Joe.

"He asked me to make him some tea." Ahim whispered as she bustled past with a hot pan. Marvelous smiled at her, but his heart ached just a little. Something so small, so inconsequential was enough to have them both glowing. Joe was making progress, but it was slow and Marvelous was impatient. He wanted his first mate back.

Still, he recognized that Joe even speaking to her was a very big step towards things being right again.

He returned to the main room, and hesitated for a moment before settling down in his chair, leaning forward to watch Joe. Joe was frowning at his cards, and then he sighed and gathered them all back up, shuffling them again. He looked up at Marvelous, and all the pain Marvelous had felt a moment before while despairing at Joe's state, it all disappeared when Joe smiled at him, his usual tight-lipped sheepish half-smirk that Marvelous thought he would remember to the end of his days.

"How are you?" Marvelous asked, and Joe sighed a little, setting the deck of cards down and picking up his tea instead.

"It's hard." Joe finally admitted, taking a careful sip from his cup. "I don't want... I mean, it feels like maybe I never... Left." He hesitates over the last word, as if unsure if that was the best word to describe what had happened. Marvelous would say probably not.

Marvelous knew, Basco had told him. That Joe had sacrificed himself to save the crew. Marvelous wasn't angry with him, mostly because he figured if he'd been in the same position he might have done the same thing. But still, it was upsetting to think that Joe had made that decision, as if he expected Marvelous wouldn't do everything in his power to get them all back.

Marvelous blamed Basco. He knew how convincing the man could be, or used to be at any rate.

"I didn't mean for it to be this way." Joe admitted softly, staring into his tea though his eyes were distant, as if he was seeing something else entirely. "I just thought... I couldn't let you give up your dream."

Marvelous sighed. "You know that's not important, right? Not as important as you guys."

"It's your dream! It's more than that, you promised your Captain." Joe shifted on the love seat, obviously uncomfortable. Marvelous thinks he knows why, and he leans forward again to prod at the wound.

"You promised me. You promised to always be at my back."

Joe looked away, his bangs falling neatly over his eyes. The motion was obviously well practiced. Probably another defense mechanism he'd developed around Basco.

"I couldn't... I couldn't bear to let him give them to Zangyack. They wouldn't just be killed. They'd have been slaughtered, and they'd have been humiliated first. I couldn't let that happen."

"Did you stop to think about what they wanted?"

Joe's hands were shaking. Marvelous tilted his head, managed to see that Joe's eyes were closed beneath his bangs. His shoulders shuddered when he breathed in, and Marvelous imagines he's holding back tears. Maybe the progress had been less than he'd thought.

"So it's true then." Joe finally said softly, his voice surprisingly steady despite the trembling of his hands.

"What is?"

Joe took another shaky breath, then lifted his head, looked at Marvelous. His eyes were red, but dry. "They're upset with me. For what I did."

Marvelous frowns. This was not at all what he expected to hear, not least because it wasn't in the slightest way true. He gets up from his chair, moves to sit beside Joe on the love seat. He carefully took the tea cup from Joe's hands and set it on the table before his shaking hands spilled it, then put his arm around Joe's shoulders.

"Joe."

Joe looked at him. Marvelous hated that he still had that haunted look in his eyes, that fear. Joe shouldn't be afraid of anything.

"I think you need to talk to them."

Joe's hands folded in his lap, gripped and flexed until his knuckles paled. "Will they talk to me?" He asked. Marvelous smiled at him.

"I'm sure they want nothing more."


End file.
